30th anniversary of MeliáRewards: Frequently Asked Questions Meliá Rewards is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, with fantastic promotions and offers for all its more than 15 million members worldwide. How much do you know about the programme and its key benefits? We’d like to tell you just a little bit more! -Belonging means more: what is MeliáRewards? MeliáRewards is the Meliá Hotels International loyalty programme, offering rewards to people who stay regularly at the company’s hotels around the world. It has four membership tiers (white, silver, gold and platinum), which are based on the number of points earned by members for stays at the hotels or spending in hotel restaurants, bars and spas. The points earned can be used to pay for free nights, discounts on future hotel stays or other services in the hotels. -How many hotels form part of the programme? MeliáRewards gives travellers access to the entire network [...]

Another side of Jamaica at Round Hill Hotel and Villas I've been to Jamaica a few times: my honeymoon in Negril, a girls' trip to Montego Bay and a laid-back weekend in Ocho Rios. I thought I knew Jamaica, but my visit to Round Hill Hotel and Villas peeled back another layer of the lush Caribbean island. After a quick flight from Miami and a drive down a long, tree-lined entry, I was ushered into Round Hill's breezy, open-air lobby. I was met by vintage black-and-white-checked tiles, a check-in desk with handcarved pineapples and an activities board that's a holdover from the 1950s. Celebrity hideaway Round Hill, a former pineapple plantation, officially opened in 1953 under John Pringle, a Jamaican-born entrepreneur, and when it debuted it attracted Hollywood royalty. The Cocktail Bar features a collection of photos of legendary entertainers and celebrities like Pierce Brosnan, Paul McCartney and Ralph Lauren, who owns a [...]

Tourism, the great protagonist of the Dominican Republic’s economic growth in 2024 The Dominican tourism sector is consolidating itself as the country’s main economic engine, managing to close 2024 with record visitor arrivals, an expansion of its hotel plant, and a considerable improvement in average tourist spending. For economist Jaime Aristy Escuder, the growth exhibited by the DR economy in the just-ended year was leveraged mainly by the contributions of the tourism sector, an industry that remains unstoppable. “The activities of the tourism sector together with commerce, construction and local manufacturing contributed tangibly to the increase in Dominican GDP in 2024,” he said. He indicated that the growth mentioned above is in line with the estimates of the Central Bank, which indicate that the economy would register the highest growth rate in the entire region last year. He said that the Dominican economy will remain at a good pace in the future. Proof [...]

Cuba continues efforts to attract more tourists Up to October 2024, Cuba received 2,490,770 travelers according to official figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI). This figure is lower than the same period in 2023, giving way to worrying forecasts by several media outlets regarding the future of tourism in the country. The first ten months of 2024 saw 101,256 less people arrive than the number registered in the same period of the previous year. The number of international visitors dropped from 1,973,173 to 1,844,917, and from Canada, the main source of tourists to this Caribbean nation, from 748,977 to 727,261, according to an article published by Correo Canadiense. Of the source countries for vacationers to Cuba, only Russia and Mexico saw positive trends, with respective increases of 7 and 3.7 percent. In a recent communiqué, the Director of the Cuban Tourism Office in Toronto, Lessner Gómez, stressed [...]

Resonance Varadero: The perfect combination for vacations in Cuba With a unique concept in the Caribbean, Blue Diamond’s new brand in Cuba has launched: Resonance Hotels. The proposal offers guests two contrasting experiences in the same resort: relaxation and partying; representing the perfect combination for vacations in the Caribbean island. As part of this project, Blue Diamond presented Resonance Varadero (formerly Memories Varadero) in Cuba’s top sun and beach destination, after having previously presented the new jewel of the chain’s portfolio in Cayo Santa María. Resonance Varadero, an all-inclusive resort for guests over 18 years of age, is one of the four resorts in the country where this new concept will be offered, as the Santa Lucía and Marea del Portillo beaches, in the respective eastern territories of Camagüey and Granma, will also inaugurate such facilities. Representatives of travel agencies, tour operators and specialized press visited the resort this weekend and [...]